Stories by Matt Masterson

The school district said it will move to a mask-optional model for all staff and across all grade levels on March 14.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov held a concert at Orchestra Hall featuring three fiendishly difficult pieces by Szymanoski, Debussy and Brahms. 

Chicago police officers were more likely to stop and use force against Black Chicagoans than other racial groups, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General.

The study, published Monday in the journal “Nature,” is believed to be the largest of its kind. It found that the brains of those who had COVID-19 had a greater loss of grey matter and abnormalities in the brain tissue compared with those who didn’t have COVID-19. 

A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor, unspecified progress toward establishing safe corridors that would allow civilians to escape the fighting. Russia’s top negotiator said he expects those corridors to start functioning Tuesday.

Republican candidates in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada are struggling to keep pace with Democratic fundraising. Recruiting failures have dashed GOP hopes in reach states like Maryland and threaten a prime pickup opportunity in New Hampshire. 

Chicago Police are more likely to stop and use force against Black Chicagoans per a new watchdog report. Plus, the latest on efforts to make reparations. And Alvin Ailey dancers return to the Windy City.

It was at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre where dancers with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater would unknowingly perform for the last time before a nearly two-year hiatus. Fast forward to today, and they’re back on their first national tour.

The milestone is the latest tragic reminder of the unrelenting nature of the pandemic even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening. The death toll, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, stood at 5,996,882 as of Sunday morning and was expected to pass the 6 million mark later in the day.

Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies were in desperately short supply in the port city of Mariupol, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had agreed to an 11-hour cease-fire that would allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated. But Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor, Ukrainian officials said.

Maria and her fiancé, David, married Saturday before about 20 people in the backyard of an Oak Park home. On Monday, she plans to fly to Poland, then make her way to the Ukrainian border, ultimately aiming to volunteer to fight for her home country.

Zahrah Hill, who’s a plumber, and her mother Renee Wilson-Hill, a turbine generator winder, started their careers through Chicago Women In Trades. As part of our Last Word series, They give us a look into why they entered their industry.

A powerful line of thunderstorms ripped through the Chicago region Saturday night, with wind gusts topping 80 miles per hour. The wild weather continues Sunday with winter mounting a comeback.

Cook County’s forest preserves are much loved for their picnic groves and trails. Not as well known: The forest preserve district’s role as a research hub and early warning system of sorts against zoonotic diseases.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has retained a number of its most superb and experienced dancers. At the same time, it has incorporated a good deal of new talent that clearly can carry off the many challenging and stylistically varied works that are part of its ever-expanding repertoire.

As mask mandates are lifted, local doctors on where we go from here. Plus, firsthand accounts from entrepreneurs on how they got started. And La Ultima Palabra on women in trade industries. CBS Chicago’s Marissa Parra guest hosts.

This week seems to have marked a turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic with the lifting of masking mandates and vaccine checks in Chicago. But as spring approaches, it’s also a reminder that we’ve been here before. 

According to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative’s 2021 report, Latino entrepreneurs continue to outpace the rest of the startup population. So, why take the risk of starting your own business? We spoke with some local entrepreneurs about how they got their starts.

Like Rosie the Riveter, ironworker Jennifer Ortiz wants women to know they can do it. Here, she gives La Ultima Palabra on how the spark that ignited her career in the trades can work for other women, too.

A new mural near 30th and Ridgeway in Little Village depicts the figures behind a pivotal moment in Chicago’s labor history: the Haymarket Affair.

The Associated Press got exclusive access over two days to the first 12 inmates enrolled in the largely privately funded gang-cessation and jobs program at the DuPage County Jail and to their cellblock. For their safety, they’re isolated from the jail’s 500 other inmates, half of whom are in gangs.

New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.

Even though the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is of a different design than Chernobyl and is protected from fire, nuclear safety experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency warn that waging war in and around such facilities presents extreme risks.

The feds nab Madigan on 22 corruption counts. Lightfoot's provocative statements. Arne Duncan says no to mayoral bid. And President Biden gives State of the Union amid Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) teams — which are comprised of police officers trained in crisis intervention, a mental health professional and a paramedic — fielded 134 separate mental health crisis calls between Sept.13, 2021 and Wednesday, according to new city data.

Russian troops Friday seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe after a middle-of-the-night attack that set it on fire and briefly raised worldwide fears of a catastrophe in the most chilling turn in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine yet.